A teenager has been stabbed to death at a German school by another student known for aggressive behaviour. State prosecutors have announced that they will seek murder charges against the suspect.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Werner
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A 15-year-old pupil at a school in Lünen in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia stabbed to death a fellow classmate, aged 14, early Tuesday morning.
Police said the suspect had confessed to the killing, which sent shock waves through the community. On Wednesday, state prosecutors announced that they were filing murder charges against the teen.
The suspect apparently thought the 14-year-old victim had cast a dirty look at his mother, police and prosecutors said.
The incident occurred at the Käthe Kollwitz school shortly after 8 a.m. local time (0700 UTC).
The school, which has just under 1,000 students, was subsequently evacuated and closed.
The suspect was known to police as aggressive, authorities said
He was a former student at the Käthe Kollwitz school, but was later moved to another school due to behavioral problems.
That school also had trouble dealing with the unruly teenager, who on the day of the murder returned to Käthe Kollwitz with his mother to meet with a social worker about rejoining the school.
Mayor 'bewildered'
The mayor of Lünen Jürgen Kleine-Frauns said he was "horrified and bewildered" by the killing.
"This awful incident has deeply affected me," he continued. "We send our deepest sympathies and condolences to the victim's family."
A minute's silence was held on Wednesday in memory of the young victim at all Lünen schools and the city hall.
In 2016, one-in-five crimes were committed by individuals younger than 21, making it the second consecutive year that the rate had risen.
North Rhine-Westphalia's former Interior Minister Ralf Jäger described the alarming rise in youth crime as "one of the most important duties of the NRW police."
School shootings in Germany
Germany has seen a number of school attacks over the years, with the earliest recorded one dating back to as early as 1871. Here are some of the most serious.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Kulturhaus Walle
Saarbrücken, 1871
This church in the western German city of Saarbrücken housed a secondary school from 1820 to 1891. On May 25, 1871, Julius Becker, a pupil known as an eccentric loner, shot at two fellow students after his father received a note warning of his worsening grades. Both boys were badly injured, but recovered. Becker was ruled non-accountable for his actions by a court, and likely died in an asylum.
Image: Imago/W. Otto
Bremen, 1913
This funeral procession was held in the northern city of Bremen in 1913 for five girls, aged 7 to 8, who died during a gun attack on their school by a 30-year-old unemployed teacher, Heinz Schmidt, on June 20. Several other girls, staff members, a roofer and some boys playing outside also were injured in the attack on Sankt-Marien-Schule in the Walle district. Schmidt ended his days in an asylum.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Kulturhaus Walle
Cologne, 1964
On June 11, 1964, a 42-year-old man, Walter S., used a homemade flame thrower and lance to fatally injure eight children and two female teachers at a Catholic elementary school in the Volkhoven district of Cologne. Twenty more children and two teachers received burns. S. later killed himself by taking poison. Before dying, he said the attack motive was that people wanted to kill him.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images/H. Sanden Jr.
Eppstein, 1983
These are the weapons used by 34-year-old Czech refugee Karel C. in a deadly attack on the Freiherr-vom-Stein comprehensive school in Eppstein in what was then West Germany. C. killed three students aged 11-12, a teacher and a police officer and injured another 14 people, before killing himself. An autopsy showed he acted under the influence of alcohol, but the motive remains unknown.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Schmitt
Erfurt, 2002
The massacre in Erfurt, the capital of the German state of Thuringia, took place on April 26, 2002, at the Gutenberg-Gymnasium. Robert S., 19, who had been previously been expelled from the school, shot and killed 13 staff members, two students and a police officer. A teacher finally managed to placate him before pushing him into an empty room, where he committed suicide.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Schutt
Emsdetten, 2006
On November 20, 2006, Sebastian B., an 18-year-old ex-pupil of the Geschwister-Scholl Schule in the western town of Emsdetten, went on a rampage at the school with various guns and smoke bombs. He shot and injured four students aged 12-16 and a janitor. A teacher and 16 police were also injured by smoke bombs, before B. shot himself. Police later said he often played a violent video game.
Image: picture-alliance/ dpa
Winnenden, 2009
On March 11, 2009, Tim K., an ex-pupil from the Albertville-Realschule in the southern town of Winnenden, went on a shooting spree at the school with a pistol he took from his parents. He killed nine pupils aged 14-16, eight of them girls, and three female teachers. On a further rampage in Winnenden and nearby Wendlingen, he killed three more people, then himself. No motive was ever found.
